Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

Before anyone could answer, the Reaper continued, “In the end, the so-called Gate to the Underworld is nothing more than a hole punched in the weak point between the two realms—with the permission of the nameless god of the underworld, there are large and small gates on the underworld side. These gates are not solid or strong; their existence is merely to serve as the foundation for the hole.”

He meant the other side of the gates to the underworld.

Yuri quickly examined the connection between Yuka and the spirit in the mountains, the energy channels between them.

"On the mortal side, such gates do not exist naturally, but are constantly generated where the barriers are relatively weak—and of course, they will disappear as the barriers are strengthened." Minagawa Dojin's tone was somewhat like lecturing. "There are many possibilities for the phenomenon of relatively weak barriers. One of them is that a large number of ghosts gather in the same place—which is why hospitals and cemeteries often have a gate to the underworld, and of course, funeral homes as well."

“I didn’t sense the gates of the underworld in the funeral home,” Yuri began, trying to convey the message that “I wasn’t doing anything underhanded, but rather you tricked me, and I was listening attentively.” “That’s because—”

"Of course, it's because we were very effective at dispelling ghosts, so they couldn't accumulate, and the place itself wasn't special, so the gates to the underworld gradually disappeared." Minagawa's answer was very honest. "Let me think, where was I..."

Four spirit-infused puppets surrounded the protective barrier that Yuri had erected.

"Oh right, of course, this place... this place originally had nothing to do with the Gate of the Underworld. In fact, it could be considered one of the areas with the thickest barriers, after all, it's a relatively bustling street. So, it would take a lot of effort to carve out a suitable entrance here. But, it's also the most suitable place to carry out this ritual."

One minute and thirty seconds. If you want to interrupt, now's the time...

"What kind of ritual is this that requires such a commotion—you—" Akemi seemed to realize something, "What is the significance of opening the gates to the underworld in this place?"

Minagawa-do, who had once again pushed back the bound spirits that were trying to break free, looked at Yuri, who was not making any particular move, with satisfaction. "That's right. I think you've finally realized that what I'm doing is the right thing to do. Although it won't make any difference if you continue to oppose me, it's still better for everyone this way. I'll also put in a good word for you with the nameless god of the underworld."

No, no, no, that one clearly has a name. Didn't you say it's called Morse?

"This ritual originally required ten bound spirits to carve out a gate to the underworld and suck in all the nearby ghosts—alas, that number is just too large. Regardless of whether we can defeat them, even ten cowardly bound spirits that only know how to run away would require a great deal of effort—and I can't keep their spirits forever." The Reaper's voice carried a hint of smugness. "So, I went to great lengths to finally reduce the number of bound spirits required for this ritual to three by replacing most of them with a larger number of ordinary ghosts."

"So, what exactly is the purpose of this ritual?" In order to observe the position of the spirit elixir doll as much as possible, Akemi had retreated to the center of the protective wall—basically, the position where she almost stepped on Yuka Yamanaka.

"Of course, a ritual requiring such elaborate sacrifices naturally has its corresponding effects!" The monster's voice roared. "If this ritual were performed in a weaker location, the gates of the underworld would have already opened, and the ghosts would have been sucked in—thus, its intended effect wouldn't be achieved—"

It needs to be so that ghosts can't be easily sucked in?

With one minute left, Yuri looked around, but the number of ghosts showed no sign of decreasing.

"Are you going to collect these ghosts?" Akemi was also looking around, and when her gaze swept over Yuri, she could sense that Yuri wanted to say something, but she still didn't say anything.

Yuri guessed that what she meant was, "Use whatever tricks you have."

Yuri didn't say anything, he just nodded – the test was valid.

—The Reaper seemed to be tense because of Yuri's action, and released two more spirit puppets, which surrounded the three people in the middle in a hexagonal shape.

Then, the Reaper spoke again, “It is obvious that the power leading to the underworld is strongest at the moment of breaking through the barrier—the power of these ghosts rushing into the underworld will cause a flow of spiritual energy that will become a vortex, sucking in all the other ghosts around—this is much easier than catching each ghost one by one.”

"You can lure these ghosts to the vicinity, but you can't directly lure them into the gates of the underworld?" Akemi slowly squatted down, checking on Yamanaka Yuka's condition. "Isn't that a bit redundant?"

"Hmph, Tokyo has over twenty million people, and the mortality rate is extremely high. How many ghosts would that generate? — Do you know how much effort it would take to create a powerful vortex that could suck in all the ghosts of Tokyo at once?" Minagawa Dojin spread his arms, revealing his sharp claws. "However, I have turned this plan into reality. Through thorough preparation and planning, I have pushed this operation to this point! — In this place that has absolutely no connection to the Gates of the Underworld, the vortex can accumulate to an enormous number. Then, once all the spirits to bind the ghosts have arrived, my lord Morse will take all the ghosts here away on his own!"

Yuri checked the procedures one last time.

“Well, I have one more question.” Mingmei looked at the Reaper. “Why did you apologize to me before? I’m not a ghost.”

half a minute.

"...Of course, it's because of a small price to pay for this plan." Minagawa's voice returned to calm. "It's not something I particularly wanted, but it exists nonetheless, and a price must be paid—"

The six spirit puppets around them were ready for battle.

"What exactly is the price?"

“That is, such a spiritual storm will, of course, disrupt the lives of the surrounding people… or rather, their very existence.” Minagawa stated firmly, “A large number of ghosts are flowing here in the storm, and the consequences are incalculable. For ordinary people, of course, the farther away the better—as for you, who are right here…”

The Reaper paused, seemingly observing Akemi's expression.

From Yuri's perspective, Akemi's profile was almost expressionless.

"I'm sorry, I'll put in a good word for you with the nameless god of the underworld." There was indeed a hint of apology in Minagawa's voice. "Why did you have to barge in at this time? As a cultivator, shouldn't you be wary and fearful upon seeing such an environment?"

“I’m afraid the price isn’t just mine—not a single hotel staff member left early, what happened to them?” Akemi’s voice was filled with gritted teeth.

“Those useless hunters knocked them unconscious, and I didn’t remind them to evacuate instead of leaving the staff indoors…” The monster shook its head almost imperceptibly. “Of course, this means they also have no chance of survival. Consider this a necessary sacrifice.”

"It's not just within this memorial site, but the people in the surrounding buildings are affected too—you said this ritual would attract ghosts from all over Tokyo, so it's impossible that it only affects people within this memorial site—"

Akemi's words were interrupted by Minagawa-do, "No, only those of you inside the spirit ground are certain to die. Those outside are only at risk; they are not necessarily going to die."

Ten, nine, eight...

"Not certain death?! How dare you speak so lightly?"

“A momentary, intense pain will always be remembered, but the acts of ghosts harming people that happen every moment are never noticed by anyone—” Minagawa Dojin hid his wavering perfectly. If he did waver, “Even if I am not doing this for the sake of humans, what I am doing is what I should do.”

Three, two, one.

After that, Yuka Yamanaka held on for another four seconds.

Author's message

————Author's Note————

Happy Lunar New Year's Eve everyone!

186. Doppelganger and Divine Interference

"Very well, it's time to receive my final sacrifice!"

The Reaper turned around, and at the same time, the Spirit Pulse Puppets charged towards Yuri and his group—completely disregarding the fact that they would only bump into the protective barrier, these loyal puppets began their fierce charge without hesitation.

Most likely, it was just to hinder Yuri and his group, preventing them from affecting them at crucial moments.

These puppets successfully completed their mission, covering themselves with the outer edge of the protective barrier, corroding it while hindering Yuri's group's movements.

But their master was the one who ran into trouble—the one who received the cutter was not a bound spirit stripped of its extra power, but a sharp blade. Just as his attention began to wander, the bound spirit seized the opportunity and launched the attack.

"What!?" Caught off guard, the Reaper was stabbed in the left chest by this fierce blow. To make matters worse, during this sudden outburst, the Bound Spirit took a step out of the vortex.

Half of its body was still in the vortex, but the resistance it encountered was greatly reduced.

“If you hadn’t already become a ghost, this attack would have pierced your heart.” The Bound Spirit took another step forward, colliding with the Reaper who had reacted. “Since you have abandoned your human form and humanity, don’t talk about human reason.”

"You stubborn old fool!" The Reaper's claws clashed with the Spirit-Binding Blade. "You're already a ghost, what are you pretending for!?"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The protective barrier couldn't hold out for long against the puppets' onslaught. Although Yuri could always create new barriers to replace them, his energy wasn't inexhaustible. Yuri and Minmei almost simultaneously decided to take the initiative and, at least, drive these guys off the barrier.

Yuri punched the faces of the two spirit puddles simultaneously—at least theoretically—and it turned out they didn't possess any human vitals; they were made into human form simply because of Minagawa-do's habits.

In other words, Yuri's fist sank into the head of the spirit dummy, and before he could pull it out, both dummy punched him in the abdomen.

The shield that appeared blocked the attack, and then Yuri forcefully swung the heads of the two spirit plasma dolls together. The good thing that "their heads exploded like watermelons" did not happen. It was like slapping two dough balls together. They were temporarily stuck together, but they were still clearly distinct from each other.

Completely disregarding the beating on their heads and the stretching of their necks, the two wisps of spiritual energy, barely resembling human form, lunged at Yuri, attempting to entangle him.

If we hadn't used up all our bullets on the ineffective targets, it might be better to just use ether bullets to sweep them up now—or maybe regular bullets would work too, since these guys are clearly materialized.

Yuri forcibly pulled himself out and violently shook off these guys who looked a bit like sticky rice people but were actually more like mud people.

The shield played a significant role in this process. As something with almost no physical form (and almost no spiritual substance), the shield behaved more like a simple energy field—in other words, these guys couldn't stick to it; they could only press down on it with all their might.

The new technique, Corrosion (Yuri decided not to study the name of this technique for the time being), performed very poorly on these puppets—they had almost no complete structure and were therefore very difficult to destroy.

Akemi's performance was similar. With her greater agility and reaction speed, she was repeatedly using the circular protective barrier erected by Yuri to carry out guerrilla warfare, holding off two and a half of them by herself (one of whom was not drawn too much to the area). Of course, Yuri was actually causing damage, which Akemi could not do. Her mobile combat style did not allow her to entangle with a puppet for too long.

However, before engaging the bound spirit, Minagawa released six spirit dolls.

That is, there is currently one and a half ring walls sustainably consuming Yuri's energy. And! Although small, they are still continuously supplying energy to the Reapers.

If Yuri were to fight in the same way as Akemi, he would be unable to be in two places at once and would not be able to interfere enough with the remaining parts, and in that case, he would really be unable to cause any effective damage.

This is what Yuka Yamanaka saw when she opened her eyes: outside a nearly solidified barrier, two people who looked very similar were fighting a large group of slime monsters.

If she looked back to her side, she could see two guys clinging to the wall.

"How is this going?"

Nobody had time to reply to her.

Yuri slammed the two spirit sap dolls together again. Just now, he had risked absorbing some of the humanoid's energy—by contact, he absorbed the other's energy. If applied to these spirit sap dolls, it would be like directly extracting components from the other.

It's not that it has no effect at all, but it's extremely inefficient. Yuri thinks that he'd be lucky to absorb one out of every three of these humanoids lost.

After this brief exchange, Yuri had determined the level of these androids.

In terms of pure strength, they are no less than Mingmei, but their speed is much slower, making it difficult for them to unleash their full power. However, they have extremely high endurance as a substitute. They have almost no fighting skills and only know how to charge around recklessly... They are quite competent as simple obstacles. The most suitable fighting style for them is actually what they are doing now: relying on their numerical advantage to relentlessly pester their opponents, forcing them to fight head-on, and finally winning with a grappling-like method.

If it were a race, Yuri was confident he could keep these guys from ever catching up, but wiping them out quickly would be difficult.

The same goes for Akemi; her unexpected appearance helped alleviate a lot of the pressure, but it still wasn't enough.

In the distance, ahead, the Bound Spirits and the Reapers were still locked in a fierce battle. Yuri didn't know much about martial arts, but judging from their stances, the two sides were evenly matched.

in case……

"Hey! What's going on?!"

Yuri was prepared to take another humanoid attack head-on, but another spirit plasma puppet charging at him comically spun halfway around and punched Yuri's companion in front of him, thus helping Yuri out of the predicament.

Just moments ago, the Sin Eater girl sitting on the ground, with a spiritual thread hanging from her hand, suddenly manipulated one of Yuri's opponents. She didn't immediately release it; the one who had punched its companion was now hugging it and spinning it violently. Although these puppets shouldn't possess individual thought, let alone emotions, its struggle to return to its attack route against Yuri while being constantly controlled to attack its teammate was truly pitiful. Yuri could almost see the confusion on that flat, featureless face.

Clearly, this manipulation falls under the "puppet" category of abilities that Yuka Yamanaka mentioned earlier, and it doesn't require actually pulling the victim. At first glance, it really does resemble a puppeteer on stage, which may explain the name of this ability.

"What? What's going on?" Yuri took a break and began to answer Yamanaka Yuka's question. "As you can see, it's a tangled mess."

Not only are they entangled right now, but further away, the Reaper and the Spirit Binder are also locked in a one-on-one duel.

“I mean, shouldn’t I…” Yamanaka Yuka looked at herself, then at the guy not far away who was repeatedly exchanging blows, “Where does this power come from?”

Oh, this.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Yuka Yamanaka held out for three minutes (it was later proven that she held out for four seconds longer), and it was precisely in order to buy time that the Reaper was willing to answer.

If Yuka Yamanaka withdraws her power, the bound spirit will suddenly become weak and will then most likely be thrown into the vortex and killed by the Reaper—making it very difficult to truly stop the ritual after that.

So, if possible, Yuri's task is to maintain this hold for three minutes.

The reason why Yuka Yamanaka could only maintain her power for three minutes was because she had just regained her power and was not in full condition, and was very weak.

So all Yuri needs to do is help her maintain her condition—that's the first plan.

The first plan ended in a disastrous failure, though the reason was unclear... no, it was precisely because the reason was unclear that Yuri was unable to "maintain Yuka Yamanaka's condition"—he simply didn't know how Yuka Yamanaka had become so weak.

Therefore, all that's needed is for Yuri to provide energy to the spirit in her place—this is the second plan.

The plan was more successful than Yuri had expected—the hat he had previously integrated with Yuka Yamanaka's spirit was still intact, and he could use this opportunity to intervene in Yuka Yamanaka's energy supply to the bound spirit.

Next, he tested whether he could "enhance" the ghosts from a distance using a few passing ghosts, following the method of enhancing and binding spirits found in the mountains.

Although it failed and the spell wasn't cast, it's clear that the problem was a lack of proficiency, not that the spell itself was ineffective—and with the hat acting as a conduit, it would only be easier for Yuka Yamanaka.

Then came the final practice. The moment the Sin Eater girl could no longer hold on and stopped strengthening the Bound Spirit, Yuri took over the process. The source of the current strengthening of the Bound Spirit was actually Yuri in excellent condition.

As for why Yuka Yamanaka is so clear-headed now, and even able to use supernatural powers to fight people... it's probably because she collected a portion of the energy as a toll.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Yuri reviewed his actions in his mind and finally summarized it simply in one sentence: "I am supplying power."

"Can you still hold on?" Yuka Yamanaka asked, her eyes wide.

Frankly, it doesn't look like it can hold out much longer, which is why he's trying to break the deadlock.

Mingmei also retreated back into the protective barrier—this barrier looked like it was about to collapse. Yuri could open another one, but not immediately, as that would be too wasteful of spiritual essence.

"Yuri, what other tricks do you have? Use them quickly!" Akemi said, adjusting her breathing and straightening her clothes. "Although their fight doesn't seem to be going to be a one-sided affair—that monster is being very careful to avoid getting hurt—the vortex itself is still growing! In a little while, it will become something that will have negative effects even if it's dispelled—maybe it already is!"

Are the Reapers avoiding injury? Yuri looked at the five spirit puppets that had pressed their bodies against the barrier again, and the controlled mob that was trying to pull its companions down. This barrier could only hold for another twenty seconds at most.

"You should go help my spirit-binding immediately; the battlefield on his side is more crucial!" Yuka Yamanaka hurriedly offered her suggestion. "We... we always have a way. Akira... Big Sister can definitely handle them!"

Mingmei was taken aback.

Although she didn't immediately reject such foolish talk, Yuri didn't think so at all. If those six...five, all charged at her at once, Akemi wouldn't be able to stop them at all. And Yamanaka Yuka? She was still sitting on the ground, not yet up. Regaining her supernatural powers didn't mean her stamina had immediately caught up.

and many more.

Yuri glanced once more at the two men fighting in the distance.

Their attack wasn't particularly swift, but it was still quite dangerous.

"What exactly were the orders these spirit essence puppets received?"